17-story tower leased in one fell swoop

Updated 12:23 am, Thursday, April 25, 2013

Developer Mac Haik says the new Technip building along the Katy Freeway should be finished in January.

Developer Mac Haik says the new Technip building along the Katy Freeway should be finished in January.

17-story tower leased in one fell swoop

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In another show of energy's impact on Houston's commercial real estate market, Technip has signed a lease for an entire 17-story building under construction along the Katy Freeway.

The Houston-based U.S. operations of the French energy services company will occupy 428,831 square feet in the new building, called Energy Tower III - one of many projects planned or under construction in the westside Energy Corridor.

The lease announced Wednesday marks an expansion for the company, which already occupies space in two buildings next to Energy Tower III.

"We are experiencing unprecedented growth in our Houston office," David Dickson, president of Technip North America, said in a statement.

Some of the biggest deals for office space in recent months have come from large energy companies expanding their offices and renewing leases.

The amount of available office space has been constrained, making it tough for large tenants to find new offices.

Space is particularly tight in west Houston, where developers are trying to meet the demand with new buildings.

Along the Energy Corridor, the stretch of Interstate 10 west of Beltway 8 known for its concentration of oil and gas companies, five developments have broken ground and 18 are proposed, according to the Houston office of Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate firm.

The company pegs the vacancy rate for top-class buildings along the Katy Freeway at 7.4 percent.

The new Technip building should be completed in January, said developer Mac Haik, who started construction on the tower before lining up any tenants to lease it. It is part of a larger site that includes two other office buildings and an Embassy Suites hotel.

Mac Haik Realty developed the 1.5 million-square-foot complex, which has room for a fourth office building.

Technip has been a longtime tenant.

The company first took space in Energy Tower I in 1998 and expanded into Energy Tower II in 2011, Dickson said.

Technip provides project management, engineering and construction services to the energy industry. Its engineering and project centers in North America design and build hydrocarbon production facilities, processing plants and infrastructure from offshore oil and gas developments to onshore refineries and petrochemical plants.